APC Governors’ Fence-mending Visit to Buhari 

Following the defection of the associates of former President Muhammadu Buhari to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), state governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) last Monday paid a visit to the ex-president at his residence in Kaduna recently.

Led by the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, the governors held a closed-door meeting with Buhari.

First to defect was former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who claimed to have obtained Buhari’s blessing to dump the APC.

It was also gathered that some former ministers who served in Buhari’s cabinet are perfecting plans to move en masse to the SDP. In Buhari’s Katsina home state, some members of the APC have defected to the SDP.

Many political analysts believe that the visit was to put pressure on Buhari to stop his associates from dumping the APC.

Buhari has cult followership in the North and the defection of his associates could spell doom for the APC.

Buhari and his associates are believed to be unhappy with the APC-led government because of their alleged ill-treatment.

Shortly after President Bola Tinubu assumed office, his ministers and other aides were frequently accusing Buhari’s administration of ruining the economy and bequeathing a comatose economy. 

They rightly claimed that Tinubu inherited a badly damaged economy from Buhari and also blamed the former president for the nationwide insecurity.

Though Buhari’s administration was believed to have destroyed the economy and caused insecurity nationwide as claimed by Buhari’s critics, his associates argued that the agents of the current APC-led administration should not have criticised Buhari openly in the spirit of APC.

Political analysts believe the APC governors’ visit was a fence-mending one. It was not however clear if the visit pacified Buhari.

But Uzodimma said the visit to Buhari signified a show of unity and strength within the ruling party.

Unfortunately, while inflation, hunger, kidnapping and massive killings are threatening the peace and stability of their states, these governors are more interested in how to remain politically-relevant in 2027 than the security of their people.